According to the Daily Mail, his conduct is alienating players and officials at Old Trafford. They report:

“There’s a fine line between madness and genius,’ one club source said. “People react differently to pressure and he’s obsessive about winning.

“Everyone thinks he can live up to his reputation as the Special One but the pressure he is putting himself under needs a release. After all, it’s just kicking a water bottle.

“But there’s no doubt it’s upset the applecart because he courts controversy in a way others haven’t here. It upsets people at the club because they’re not used to it.

“The culture is not what he expected of a big club.”

Chris Wheeler’s report adds that Mourinho is ‘distancing himself’ from players behind the scenes. He writes:

‘People at United’s training ground talk about an obsessive man totally absorbed by his problems who will ‘smile at you one minute and blank you the next’.

‘Some describe Mourinho as having a split personality and appearing to be at odds with himself. Players and staff not involved with the first team are practically ignored, with his assistant Rui Faria left to keep up morale.

‘There have been stories of Mourinho distancing himself from the players in training or using a side entrance at Carrington to avoid mingling with them in the canteen.’